Blackdog
by Atlantis Sinatra
Summary: After a life of war and adventure, all she wanted to do was live a fairly quiet existence running her little café and avoid inquiries on future children from Mrs. Weasley. She didn't expect Tony Stark to wander his way into her life and decide to never leave. FEM!Harry/Tony Stark
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hi everyone! Just wanted to take the time to say that while I am not new to reading fanfiction, I am quite new at posting what I've written. This is my first story EVER on this site, so I'm quite excited. I hope everyone else is too.**

**Some things to know!**

**** **Just so everyone is aware, other than an _extremely_ basic plot line and a few specific scenes, I have utterly no idea where this story is going. I'll be making it up as I go for the most part. In accordance to this, it will probably be a slow moving process on my part. However I am most open to suggestions!

**** **I am looking for a Beta Reader/Editor if anyone is interested!

**** **This is a **FEM!Harry** story! I treat my FEM!Harry almost like an OC, so I'm sorry if she doesn't seem "Harry" enough for you.

**** **I graciously accept flames from people, but please inform me of your troubles and concerns in an _intelligent_ manner. No "Ur story Sux!" crap please.

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**SUMMARY**: After a life of war and adventure, all she wanted to do was live a fairly quiet life running her little café and avoid inquiries on future children from Mrs. Weasley. She didn't expect Tony Stark to wander his way into her life and decide to never leave. FEM!Harry/Tony Stark

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**Blackdog**

Chapter One

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'…_I just wanna scream and lose control, throw my hands up and let it go, forget about everything and run away, yeah! I just wanna fall and lose myself, laughing so hard it hurts like hell…'_

Helen gave a start and rolled off her bed, landing on the floor with a dull thud as Avril Lavigne started singing loudly from the iPod dock next to her bed indicating that it was 5:30 and she needed to get up and face the world. She groaned and detangled herself from her covers, standing up with a wince as she stretched her back, sighing in relief when it gave an audible 'crack'.

She gathered up the blankets and tossed them on her bed without a care. Turning to head into the bathroom, she promptly tripped over Bayer, the two-year-old Great Dane she rescued from a kill shelter two months ago. It had been a completely spontaneous, but welcomed addition to her quaint apartment life here in New York City.

The dog raised its black head from where he laid next on the floor next to the bed and stared at her accusingly for a second before returning to his previous position.

"Not my fault you blend in with the floor," Helen grumbled, flipping on the light switch on the wall to illuminate her bedroom as she entered the bathroom. She gave herself an onceover in the mirror.

A head of wild, black-coffee curls made worse by a wild case of bed head? Check. Her mother's bright, jade-green eyes? Check. Full (but not oversized!) breasts and womanly curves that decided to show up unexpectedly _after_ Hogwarts? _Double_ _check_.

The twenty-seven year old witch gave a sigh and started the shower, stripping herself of the black Pearl Jam t-shirt and maroon Dr. Pepper pajama pants she'd worn as sleepwear that night. She stepped under the spray and promptly cursed, turning the water hotter quickly before she froze herself.

Her mind wandered a bit as she absently went about her routine, thinking over her life up to that point.

After the war, the Ministry had put an inordinate amount of pressure on her to become an Auror and lead the cleanup effort rounding up the Death Eaters after Voldemort's defeat. Despite pursuing the idea earlier, after everything was said and done, Helen wanted _nothing_ to do with the Ministry in general much less submit to being their personal _Bitch_ more than she already had throughout her life. When Gringotts approached her with an offer of joining the Cursebreakers, she told the Ministry to collectively '_fuck off'_ and hopped the first plane to Egypt.

She spent a year in Egypt with a few of the Cursebreakers there as crash course training instead of returning to Hogwarts with Hermione and Ron. Her two friends had been angry with her decision to basically run away, but eventually came to accept the fact that she was doing what she wanted for the first time in her life.

The three of them made sure to remain in regular contact via letters during Helen's years with Gringotts and the Cursebreakers. Helen also made a point to make appearances at birthdays and major holidays to spoil her growing collection of nieces and nephews. Much to Molly's annoyance, Helen had yet to find a man and settle down to have her _own_ children and the Weasley Matriarch made it known at _every family occasion_ that she was anxious to see little Potters running around _before_ she kicked the bucket.

Helen was no stranger to relationships. Her issue was having them last more than a few months at best. For the longest time, she was fully absorbed with travelling the world, doing digs and expeditions, looking for treasures, and rising rapidly through the ranks. Now she was too absorbed with running her café. Besides… She was _used_ to being alone.

The Goblins hadn't been too enthused when she decided to retire a year ago after building a massive fortune outside of the sizable Family Fortune she inherited from her parents and Sirius, built from her commissions and finds. They'd been even _more_ upset when most of the team that she had built around her had decided to retire _with her_ and follow her to New York.

Helen killed the water just as it started to go cold and stepped out, grabbing towel to dry off with, wrapping it around her as she re-entered the bedroom to get dressed. She strolled over to her walk in closet and dropped the towel carelessly on the floor as she fished for a pair of underwear from her drawers, finally settling on a matching lacy, neon green set that Kitty had gotten her for her birthday that year, slipping the garments on. Next, she shimmied into a pair of dark washed skinny jeans that glued to her legs like a second skin and grabbed one of her work shirts – a yellow one with the coffee shop's logo in black.

A quick trip back to the bathroom to brush her teeth and do her makeup – just a bit of mascara and some lip-gloss – she gave herself another onceover and called it good.

"Come on, boy," Helen called to Bayer as she grabbed her yellow Converse. She slipped them on quickly as the Great Dane trotted over to the door, tail wagging.

She locked the door and descended the stairs with Bayer trailing after her, hanging an immediate right as she reached the ground, opening the glass door that lead into the café. Music was playing softly and all the TV's were on indicating that as usual, Faye and Cicero had both beaten her there to get started on the morning's fare.

Bayer made a beeline for his dog bed by the fireplace where he did a few circles before laying down, promptly falling asleep. Helen gave him a glance of fond exasperation as she made her way to the kitchen, ducking under the counter instead of lifting it open to walk through.

"Good morning, my Minions!" Helen said cheerfully as she opened the swinging kitchen door. The two people glanced at each other before rolling their eyes in unison, going back to ignoring the witch.

Helen merely grinned, making a beeline for the bowl of cookie dough that had been prepped, working methodically to whip out tray after tray of chocolate chip cookies.

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Despite his pounding headache, Tony could _not_ get out of there fast enough, tossing on whatever clothes of his that he could find to slip out of the unfamiliar apartment he woke up in. He couldn't remember much of the previous night and _surely_ didn't remember going _anywhere_ with the store-bought blonde he woke up next to. Apparently last night was yet another tick on Tony's growing tally of drunken one-night-stands that did nothing _whatsoever_ to help him get over Pepper dumping him a month ago.

They had told everyone it was a mutual split.

_It wasn't._

As a matter of a fact, it had blindsided him so thoroughly that he chucked the diamond ring he'd bought into the lake at Central Park and proceeded to get so meticulously smashed that he woke up in a New Jersey cow pasture with no recall as to how the hell he got there and the _mother of all hangovers_.

The press had a _field day_ with that little excursion.

His situation now wasn't much better. Not only had he apparently lost his phone sometime the night previous, but also his coat, his wallet, _and_ his watch.

Tony crossed his arms over his chest in a valiant attempt to keep warm in the biting February cold. He was cold, hung-over, and had _no fucking clue_ as to where he was. He eventually gave up trying to place himself within the city and picked a random direction to walk. Two blocks down, the delicious scent of roasted coffee, chocolate, and baked goods filtered past him on the chilly morning breeze. He eventually located the source of the tantalizing smell in a coffee shop across the street from him.

He quickly scanned the windows, taking in the black and yellow decal with the snarling rampant dog done in a heraldic style with the words "Blackdog Coffee House & Bakery" arced above and below it. He noted that the black banners above the windows and door had the same name across them in yellow.

He figured that the place had to have a phone and being _warm_ despite torturing himself with the smell of coffee would be better than freezing on the streets of New York. With his mind made up, he crossed the street swept through the doors. He was immediately assaulted with the rich smell of coffee.

Tony took a quick moment to glance around at the place and he was pleasantly surprised at the tasteful modern décor of the café. Despite the concrete floor, the place gave off a very warm and comfortable feeling with caramel-crème walls offset by depictions of tasteful, modern art and black and white photographs of famous New York architecture.

There were metal tables with matching chairs in groups around the place save for the area around a roaring gas fireplace where there was a mishmash of armchairs and couches arranged in a sensible manner around a few coffee tables that had copies of that morning's newspaper on them. There were a few flat screen TVs hanging off the walls that had various news channels with the captions rolling so patrons could understand what was being said. The Dave Matthews Band was playing from the speakers just loud enough to be heard, topping off the pleasant ambiance.

Tony was surprised to see the black Great Dane sleeping away on a dog pillow in front of the fireplace. It had raised its head to look at him revealing a white blaze on its chest, deemed him unimportant, and went back to sleep.

Tony wandered in further and eyed the countless creations housed in the glass cases up at the counter. His mouth watered and his stomach growled in protest as he gazed at them all longingly. Doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, brownies, croissants, muffins, scones, cookies, and cupcakes… It was everything you could imagine and _more_. The espresso machine gleamed in all its chromed mechanical glory on the back wall, sitting under a colorful chalkboard menu that declared a selection of soups, sandwiches, and salads as lunchtime fare.

The door to the kitchen suddenly opened and a nymph of a woman came out backwards, using her back to open the swinging door as she carried a tray of what appeared to be freshly glazed doughnuts. She was petite, but had dangerous curves hugged by the yellow t-shirt and skinny jeans she was wearing. Her hair was dark and reminded Tony of the color of the very black coffee they served. It carried a curl in it, pulled up in a ponytail.

She turned around and gave a start, obviously surprised to see Tony standing there looking so disheveled and _shivering_. He was equally surprised to see such _bright green eyes_.

"Bloody _hell_, are you alright?" the woman said, eyes wide with a British accent that caught Tony off guard.

"You don't suppose I could use your phone, do you?" Tony said wryly, trying hard to control his shivering despite the encompassing _warmth_ of the place.

The woman quickly tossed the tray of doughnuts into the glass case and snatched the phone off the wall behind her. "Here," she said, handing it to him over the counter. "Go sit by the fire and warm yourself up."

"Thanks," he muttered gratefully, taking the offered phone. He dialed one of the few numbers he knew by heart as he made his way over to the fireplace to hopefully defrost himself. He really hoped he didn't catch pneumonia from his frozen stroll through the city.

[_Where the __**hell**__ are you?_] Rhodey's voice said harshly from the other side of the line, answering on the first ring.

"How'd you know it was me?" Tony muttered.

[_We've all been worried __**sick**__ about you! You never came back last night, no one knew where you were, __**and**__ you left your wallet and phone at some bar downtown!_ _You've __**got**__ to stop doing this to us!_]

Tony winced and felt the guilt well up in him. He knew that Rhodey and Happy didn't deserve all the worry he made them go through. "Look, I'm sorry," he sighed, running his hand through his hair.

[_It's fine, Tony. Happy will be there soon. For the love of God, __**try**__ not to get into any more trouble until then, alright?_]

The line went dead and Tony sighed again. He turned the phone off and tossed it on the table in front of him before dropping his head into his hands. He stayed like that until he felt something drape across his shoulders. He glanced up surprised to see that the British, green-eyed beauty had draped a colorful, hand-made blanket over him.

She twisted to a table behind to her to reach for a steaming yellow mug and a plate, handing them to him. "Here," she said softly with a bit of sympathy in her bright green eyes. "You look like you need a pick-me-up this morning. It's on the house."

Tony glanced down at the cinnamon roll and cappuccino in his hands complete with leaf design and icing. "Thanks," he muttered, slightly confused as to why a complete stranger would do something so kind for him. He briefly wondered what her angle was, but decided not to push his luck questioning her motives.

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Helen tried to ignore the feeling of his eyes trailing her every move as she worked. He was trying to figure her out. It was obvious that the industrialist wasn't used to people being kind to him just for the sake of being kind. Everything had a catch and everyone had another motive.

Such was the life of a Celebrity.

Helen glanced up from making an espresso for a rather sour looking business man when a college-aged girl burst into the store wearing the inverted version of Helen's yellow work shirt, blonde and pink ponytail flying wildly behind her.

"You're late," she said in a sing-song voice as the girl ducked under the counter and made her way into the kitchen to grab an apron.

"I'm sorry!" she wailed as she came back out, tying the strings in front. "My scooter finally died and I had to run five blocks."

"I told you to dump that piece of crap _weeks_ ago, Alex," Helen said with a laugh.

"There is _nothing_ wrong with Alfred!" she cried with a pout, grabbing a mug from the stack to pour a man a plain coffee. "He just needs a fix-up and he'll be all better again."

Helen rolled her eyes with a fond grin at the younger female's strangeness and went about her business as more people started coming in. Together they filled countless orders as people came and went. Every few minutes Helen found herself shooting the roguish man on the couch a glance, telling herself that she was just _keeping an eye on him_.

"You know, it's bad enough that you're giving each other goo-goo eyes. Do you have to do it in _public_?" Alex said, faking a gag.

"Oh stuff it," Helen muttered, rolling her eyes. "I'm not giving _anyone_ goo-goo eyes."

"Uh huh," the blonde said dryly, "whatever you say."

Helen gave the girl a glare before grabbing a tub of dirty dishes, stalking back into the kitchen.

**BD~BD~BD~****BD~BD~BD~****BD~BD~BD**

"There you are." Tony glanced up to see his long time friend and chauffer standing not too far away. "Let's get you out of here, Mr. Stark."

Tony gave the place a quick glance, almost sad when he didn't find the green-eyed barista anywhere in sight. He tightened the blanket around himself and stood up, following Happy out of the place.

It was a little underhanded of him to steal the blanket the woman generously loaned him, but he figured it gave him a legitimate excuse to come back.

That and the damned thing was really, _really_ comfy.

~FIN~

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**AN: So this is the end of the first chapter of my first HP/Avengers crossover. I hope it was entertaining enough. I can already tell from the first chapter and the other stuff that I've got written already that this is going to be incredibly hard for me to write. I'm going to try and explain Helen's back story a bit more, perhaps making a series of one-shots in the future, but I'm not totally sure yet.**

****One thing I think I forgot to mention. The dates won't exactly line up completely in the Avengers and HP universe. Helen is 27, but this takes place AFTER the Avengers. I'm going to put Tony probably around 37-38, cause we don't know exactly in the Movie how old he is and let's face it, Robert Downey Jr. can _totally_ pull off a younger age. (For those wondering what I imagine Helen to look like, I'll be posting a link to an image soon)**

**If there is anything I might have missed or is confusing, please leave me a Review with your concerns and I'll address them!**

**Happy Reading!**

**J.S.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hi everyone! Just wanted to say that I'm gracious for all of the reviews I've received for the début chapter of **_Blackdog_** and I'm happy that it has been received so positively thus far. I hope I can continue on such a good note and create something that not only am I proud of, but that everyone enjoys. I just wanted to address a few reviews that I received. This chapter answers a few of the questions asked and I've addressed others via PM, but I felt that these points that I felt were good for everyone to know.**

**** First, I would like to thank **Marilyn Cane** for clarifying a few ages for me! Apparently according to an interview done with Downey, he mentioned playing a character eleven years younger than himself, indicating that Tony Stark was approximately 35 years old in the Avengers Movie so I wasn't too far off in my estimate. It was also indicated that Clint is 27 in the movie. I haven't been a complete nerd and searched for this information myself, but it works for me and my story, so thank you **Marilyn**!**

**** **In regards to Helen's Gringotts team: just about _everyone_ is an OC. I probably won't have everyone featured prominently other than the few that came to New York as not **all** of them actually retired, but the others might be mentioned in the future. I also want to say that I'm not forsaking all Cannon characters in favor of Helen's team. Others like Hermione and Ron WILL be making appearances, but more as minor characters. The Hows and Whys of how the team got together will be explained as the story goes on, INCLUDING the reason why they decided to retire! Also, just because some of them followed her to New York, doesn't mean they all work at Blackdog! :) I'm seriously considering doing a number of shorts, or a prequel of sorts to go over the years as a Cursebreaker cause some of the scenes I've come up with are kind of hilarious.

**** There was a comment on Bayer being in the café. I'd just like to say that I'm not an expert on New York health codes, but I have seen places that allow dogs. Probably not in the context in which I am using, of course, but hey, it's **_**fanfiction**_**.**

**** **As for Helen herself: Someone made the point that I probably should have given her a more common fannon name like Holly or Harriet. While those names are perfectly fine, I felt giving her a more solid name made her seem like her own character set apart from other FemHarry's (that and I _cannot_ for the life of me stand it when someone calls a girl Harry/Harri. Don't know _why_, but I do.). I don't believe that Helen is an old woman's name and I think in my mind that it is fitting for a FemHarry character. It's based in Greek meaning 'Light' and I think that in a time of war that the Potters would think of Helen like their "light" in such a dark time. Or maybe I'm just looking too much into it. But still, FemHarry and CannonHarry **aren't** the _same people_ just with different sexes. They might have each had a crappy childhood with the Dursley's, but I believe that the _way_ that they experienced it was a _bit_ different. I even have the benefit of having almost ten years of experiences to further shape my FemHarry. We don't really know how CannonHarry truly grew up during the Epilogue. I think this is really why I sometimes refer to my FemHarry as an OC. **Does this make sense to anyone other than me?** x.x

**Nevertheless, I think it's time to get on with the new chapter. It's a bit of fluff with some backstory on Alex. It's kind of short and I'm not too thrilled with the way I ended it, but if I kept going I think the flow of the story would have been a bit odd.**

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**SUMMARY**: After a life of war and adventure, all she wanted to do was live a fairly quiet life running her little café and avoid inquiries on future children from Mrs. Weasley. She didn't expect Tony Stark to wander his way into her life and decide to never leave. FEM!Harry/Tony Stark

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**Blackdog**

Chapter Two

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Tony was thankful for Happy just being _Happy_ as the man had provided him with a couple of pain pills for the pounding headache and explained how Rhodey had JARVIS trace the call to find the address of the place two seconds after the man realized he hung up _without asking Tony's location_. He didn't ask where he'd gone or how he ended up in that coffee shop missing his coat and watch. He just returned Tony's wallet and phone with a brief quip about JARVIS cancelling all the cards and changing his personal number _just _in case.

The man was truly _indispensable_.

Tony nursed his hangover as Happy used his mad ninja driving skills to navigate the city and pull to a stop in front of the tower in less than fifteen minutes. The man was creepy good.

Tony immediately groaned when he recognized the blank-faced redhead standing on the sidewalk with her hands behind her back in a neutral-yet-deadly waiting position that only she seemed to pull off convincingly. It was never good when Natasha showed up.

"Get your suit. We're being called in," Natasha said evenly without preamble as Tony stepped out of the limo.

"Well hello to _you too_, Anastasia," Tony saidsarcastically. "Do I at least get to know _where_ ol' St. Nick is sending us? Cause I'd rather not have to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D. to get mission information yet _again_."

"Chicago. Nice blanket by the way."

He unconsciously bristled, tightening his grasp on the rainbow colored blanket he'd snitched.

Within half an hour he was showered, changed, and on the Avengers' Quinjet alongside Bruce and Steve speeding towards the Windy City as they received their briefing from the redhead. Barton was already there and waiting for them and Thor (who had come back to earth to visit his Lady Foster) was en route from wherever the hell he was staying. Tony listened on with a glazed expression as the spy told them about some idiot scientist that decided playing with unstable radiation in his mother's basement was an _okay thing to do_ and managed to accidentally _mutate_ an entire hive of wasps into a killer swarm of giant mutant wasp-_monsters_ that were now terrorizing the people of Chicago.

He had a sinking feeling that this was _really_ going to suck.

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"I can't believe he _stole my blanket!"_

Alex rolled her eyes, sitting there on the park bench watching her pseudo big sister and boss slowly try to work herself into a conniption over the fact that Tony Stark ran off with her favorite blanket a few hours ago.

"Would you give it a _rest_ already?" she griped, absently petting Bayer's head when the dog came over to rest it on her knee. "It's just a stupid blanket. It's not like you're _married_ to the damned thing. Now, throw the damned ball before your dog drools all over me," she said, grimacing at the feeling of dog drool seeping through her pants making for even more of an odd feeling due to the cold. Heating charms only did _so_ much.

Helen gave her a hurt look but threw the rubber squeaky-ball in her hands out to the snow covered grass of the local park. Bayer immediately perked up and barreled after it happily nearly mowing over some poor woman in the process. Helen winced at the scathing glare she got, mentally noting to watch where she was throwing from then on.

"It wasn't just _any_ stupid blanket, Kitty!" Helen protested, sitting down next to the younger woman. "It was the one that Mrs. Weasley made me. You know, the one made with that fuzzy rainbow yarn? That stupid thing has gone all over the world with me. It's like my good luck charm!" Helen despaired as Bayer came bounding back with his ball, depositing the drool covered object in her lap for her to throw again.

"Why not wait and see if he brings it _back _before you start forming the posse to hunt him down and lynch him, huh?" Alex said as Helen threw the ball for Bayer again. "It's only been a few hours after all. A busy man like Stark can't just drop everything to satisfy just _one_ person, even if it is _you_."

"He could have sent a gopher," Helen muttered. "I'm sure he's got _plenty_ of those."

Alex sighed. "Dude, you've got _way_ bigger fish to fry than obsessing over Tony Stark having an illicit love affair with your blanket. You _do_ remember that Andy has deliberately _threatened_ you into going to the Foundation's Charity Gala next month right?"

"Merlin, _why_ did you have to bring that up?" Helen whined, throwing Bayer's ball for the third time. Every time something like this came up, she _seriously_ regretted giving Andromeda the idea of forming the Black Foundation. It had been a good idea at first and the Foundation quickly became quite influential in not only the normal world, but the wizarding world as well. The one thing Helen forgot was that Andromeda Black loved to host parties. She also loved forcing Helen to _go_ to those parties. The woman was an _expert_ at using Helen's nine year old godson's adorable face against her.

"Because I like torturing you," Alex chirped happily.

"Don't you have classes to be late to?" Helen said scathingly. Alex's eyes widened and she quickly looked at the time on her cell phone.

"Shit!" she shrieked, jumping up. "If I'm late again, Dr. Pulaski is going to _kill_ _me_!" She snatched her bag off the ground and took off.

Helen chuckled to herself, shaking her head in fond exasperation. The kid had the foundations of being a fantastic Cursebreaker, but she had decided to follow Helen and the others to New York anyway, citing that they were the only ones that ever "gave a shit" and that she wanted to pursue a degree in Linguistics.

Alex's addition to the team actually started with _Neville Longbottom_ of all people. Alexandra Haxley was Neville's American cousin, the daughter of his father's sister. And, like Neville, the family had thought Alex a squib for the longest time until she got accepted into Salem. But, _unlike_ Neville, she didn't resort to being timid. The girl became a _hellion_ instead and channeled her frustrations into pissing people off and getting herself into an inordinate amount of trouble.

Neville stepped up as the Head of his House and took his cousin in when the girl's father finally disowned her.

He made a desperate plea to Helen to help when the seventeen year old nearly got herself arrested by muggle police. Helen had been extremely apprehensive about bringing someone _so_ rebellious onto her team of Cursebreakers, knowing that someone could easily _die_ in their line of work by being an idiot. Neville had begged though and she reluctantly allowed the seventeen year old menace on as an Intern while they were studying ruins in Bolivia, South America. They had all seen the girl's potential with Linguistics almost immediately but it took one giant clusterfuck of a situation with a traveling doctor they teamed up with for a bit, everyone nearly _dying_, and a sudden evac out of the country for the kid to open up to everyone. They'd portkeyed to one of Helen's properties in Greece to get themselves out of the situation and the girl just burst into tears, spilling her guts out to them completely out of _nowhere_.

She'd been like everyone's annoying little sister ever since.

Helen looked down at her dog, smiling at the curious expression he was giving her made even funnier by the squeaky ball in his mouth. "What do you say we head on home and get some lunch, big guy?" she said, petting his head as she stood up. She reattached the Great Dane's leash and the two slowly made the trek back to the café through the February cold.

She was surprised to find a rather large crowd of people in the café when she returned, all eyes on the televisions hanging from the walls. They were all on the same news channel and the volume had been turned up so everyone could hear. She had to shove her way inside around people and tables, making room for Bayer to navigate to his dog pillow before she tapped the nearest person on the shoulder.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Dude! It's all over the news!" the guy cried excitedly. "Those Avengers guys are in Chicago fighting a swarm of rabid man-eating bugs! It's _awesome!_"

"What?" she blurted in horror.

She didn't know how that was even _possible_. Stark was in this very place not _five hours ago!_ Helen turned her gazed to one of the televisions streaming the live feed from Chicago. She watched with morbid fascination, unable to tear her gaze away from the red and gold figure zooming through the Chicago skyline, tearing its way through a swarm of the hideous bug _things_.

First he shows up in her café looking all lost and pathetic, then he steals her _favorite_ _blanket_, and now he makes her _worry_ about him while battling _giant mutant wasp-monsters?_

Tony Stark was _officially_ the world's biggest jerk_._

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**Well, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I should have the next one out within a few days, but no promises. I've been spending a lot of time mapping out the direction this story is going. I started without a concrete plan and quickly came to realize that was a stupid idea. But fear not! I've rectified that for the most part. I'm just having issues with connecting two bits together. Should be done within a day though.**

**Again, if anything seems confusing or if you have questions, feel free to leave a review or PM me!**

**Happy Reading!**

**J.S.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: First off I want to say thank you to everyone that has been so graciously review this story! I promise to keep most of my comments to the AN at the end of the chapter, but I just want to mention a few things quickly.**

****I am still searching for a Beta Reader if anyone is interested! (I would like it however, if you are experienced in writing in either the Harry Potter or Avengers universes. Experience in both is preferred, but I'll take what I can get at this point. I need an extra set of eyes to go over my work and help me become a better writer.)**

****As I've been fleshing out the plot more and more, I've realized that there are OC's all over this story, so as I start to introduce more, I'll probably keep a tally at the end of each chapter with names and whatnot to keep track. Right now I've mentioned three, but only really introduced Alex (AKA "Kitty"). We'll be meeting more in the next chapter.**

**Thank you for your time! :)**

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**SUMMARY**: After a life of war and adventure, all she wanted to do was live a fairly quiet life running her little café and avoid inquiries on future children from Mrs. Weasley. She didn't expect Tony Stark to wander his way into her life and decide to never leave. FEM!Harry/Tony Stark

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**Blackdog**

Chapter Three

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He woke with a startled, garbled scream of terror, jerking upright and tumbling off the bed in a tangled heap on the floor of his bedroom. Trembling uncontrollably, he slowly pulled himself to his hands and knees. He remained in that position with his head hanging limply as he fought the urge to retch everywhere. He tried to regain his awareness and remind himself that he was _not_ in that thrice cursed cave, he was _not_ being tortured, and he did _not just __**die**_.

It was _just_ a nightmare.

When he felt safe enough to try and stand up without puking, he slowly clawed his way to his feet, using the bed as a brace. He eyed the red numbers of the clock and saw that it was 9:23 in the evening and he fought the sudden urge to break down and _cry_.

The past few days had been complete _hell_ for him.

They'd _all_ thought that after the Chitauri, mindless bug monsters would be a piece of cake. And, while they _were_ quite stupid, they operated in a hive mentality, attacking enforce with groups of a dozen or more at a time. They also had a Queen that somehow managed to birth out dozens _more_ of those damned things _every hour_. As the only one that could truly fly, he'd been relegated to containment to keep them within the designated area while the others picked them off and searched for the elusive Queen.

It took them _three days_ to find her deep in the sewers of the city.

Tony didn't think the others fully realized the burden they had placed solely on his already fragile shoulders. By then severely sleep deprived from his own messed up issues, he had little rest during the confrontation, constantly on the move to herd the swarm back to the other Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, picking off any strays they managed to miss. The few precious moments of rest he was granted when they did remember to give him a reprieve was consistently interrupted by the nightmares, kept secret only by JARVIS muting the communications in his suit when he woke with startled cries and half screams of terror. He survived solely on adrenaline and concentrated caffeine till he was able to return to the safety of his tower and pass out face first onto his bed, but the nightmares struck again, relentless in their assault of his psyche and their mission to wear him down to the point of no return.

This time he'd only managed a little over forty-five minutes of sleep.

And people wondered why he drank so much…

Tony made a desperate escape to the bar of his penthouse suite in search of something strong enough to chase the nightmares away for a few hours at least. Normally if he drank himself into a stupor just short of alcohol poisoning, he could catch a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. Unfortunately, he usually ended up doing stupid shit that he'd get yelled at for later in the time between getting royally fucked and passing out.

Tonight he just didn't give a shit as he blindly grabbed the nearest bottle of scotch and a glass from the shelves and sat down on the floor in front of the bar wedged in-between two of the stools. He poured himself a glass and downed it in one go, immediately pouring himself another and downing that one too. He pressed the glass to his forehead, trying to draw some comfort from the cool glass against his skin to no avail.

He didn't know how much longer he could continue like this…

He was running on empty now, not even fumes to keep him going.

He forwent the glass this time and took a long draw straight from the bottle, staring blankly out through the large panoramic windows of his penthouse to the Manhattan skyline as the buzz of alcohol slowly hit him. As he set the bottle back on the floor, his eye caught a glimpse of something across the room draped on the back of the couch.

It was that blanket he snitched from that pretty barista in Chelsea.

It was lying innocently on the back of the couch exactly where he left it before the madness started. Even in the darkness illuminated only by the lights of Manhattan and the blue glow from his reactor he could see the colors of the woven yarn, like a rainbow puked all over it.

He used the stools and the ledge of the counter to haul himself to his feet and he walked over on wobbly legs unstable more from exhaustion than the alcohol he just consumed.

If one thing could be said about Tony Stark, it was that the man could hold his liquor.

Tony grabbed the corner of the blanked and lifted it to his face, burying his nose in the woven yarn. The damned thing was garishly tacky, but it smelled of vanilla and jasmine tinted with just a hint of coffee. He inhaled the unique perfume that lingered on it and kind green eyes and coffee-black curls instantly came to mind.

He was suddenly filled with the urge to see the only person that had shown him any concern as a human being in weeks.

He quickly gathered the blanket up in his arms and made for the door.

He didn't care that it was almost ten at night or that he just downed half a bottle of scotch. He didn't care that he had no idea what her _name_ was or where she even lived. He had to do _something_ before he went _completely_ insane. He had to return the damned blanket.

He had to see her again.

"Sir?"

Tony gave a start and nearly tripped over the end of the blanket when JARVIS's computerized voice sounded through the penthouse.

"JARVIS," he croaked, "issue Gag Order 34-D."

"Sir, I _must_ protest," the ever present AI said with concern.

"So noted, so ignored," he said.

"May I at least suggest a _shirt_, Sir?" JARVIS said with a sigh. "And perhaps a coat? It _is_ still February after all."

Tony stopped and glanced down, suddenly realizing that he was indeed topless. Apparently he'd writhed himself out of his shirt sometime during the brief forty-five minutes he'd been asleep. "Oh, right," he muttered, making a detour to his closet to grab a random shirt and pull it over his head.

**BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD**

Helen sighed and turned off the last television on the wall, cutting off the news anchor mid-word before walking back over to the counter to start wiping down.

The tabloids were proclaiming it the latest incident the "Infestation of Chicago" and now that the battle against the mutant wasps itself was seemingly over, every godforsaken news channel was replaying highlights and doing commentaries over the event.

After three days of watching news reports, live footage, and worrying senselessly over that bloody jerk, Helen was just _tired_ of it.

She honestly didn't know why she cared all that much as their meeting had been brief, not really long enough to form any meaningful relationship between them of any kind outside acquaintances, but she truly and _deeply_ worried for the man while he battled away in Chicago, constantly on the move it seemed.

Maybe it had been that look in his eyes that instinctively drew her in – the look of hopelessness hidden behind a tight wall of defenses that was slowly starting to crumble away. She saw it only briefly after he had made his call before he seemed to collect himself up again, but that look was one that she herself wore towards the end of the War when she had broken to the point that she couldn't seem to put herself back together again by herself.

Helen had been blessed enough to have an extended family that loved her enough to help put herself back together and give her a chance to heal away from England. She wondered if Tony Stark had anyone like that to help him without taking advantage of him.

She doubted it.

"You know. I've had coffee all over the world, but I don't know what you put in yours that makes it so damned good."

She jerked out of her autopilot daze and let out a shriek of surprise, dropping the towel in her hands as she jumped and spun around in shock only to knock over the collection of bottles she'd _just_ rearranged on the counter as she moved. She cursed fluently in Ancient Egyptian as she scrambled to collect the scattered squeeze bottles and return them to their original position.

"Bloody _hell_! I'm too _tired_ for a heart attack," she said accusingly to the intruder only to freeze when she saw who it was that decided to show up ten minutes before closing time.

Speak of the devil…

"Good _God_!" she exclaimed in shock as she finally comprehended the sight of Tony Stark standing there wearily with her blanket in hand looking as if he was _literally_ going to keel over and pass out at any given second. "Are you _alright_?" she squeaked clutching the last squeeze bottle to her chest in horror when her brain regained the capability to form words.

"I've been worse," he said with an exhausted smile that did little to alleviate her concern for the man's health. This was the walk-of-shame times a _thousand_.

How could she be pissed off at a guy that looked so pathetic?

"How are you even _standing_?"

"Stubborn pride, concentrated caffeine, and _maybe_ a healthy dose of scotch," he said weakly. "I wouldn't worry. I've gone longer than three days with no sleep. I'll be fine," he said before swaying dangerously.

Helen panicked and ducked under the counter, coming up beside him to stabilize him before he face planted with an arm around his waist. "This is not fine!" she said sharply as he found his balance again. She wrinkled her sensitive nose, smelling the alcohol on him. "And what the bloody hell do you mean you haven't slept in _three days_?"

"It's not like I've had much chance to," he mumbled with just a bit of bitterness.

"Come on," she said with a sigh, guiding him slowly to the door. "You need a bloody hospital."

He stiffened and locked his knees, nearly making them both fall over. "No. No hospitals!" he cried.

"Mr. Stark, you need a–" she protested.

"_No_," he said firmly, cutting her off. "Shove me in cab and send me home if you have to, but I'm _not_ going to a hospital."

Helen gritted her teeth in irritation. Why did he have to be so _difficult_? She was too _tired_ to deal with an annoying, unstable, alcohol induced billionaire right now.

"Fine," she grumbled, guiding him over to the couch instead. "Sit here and don't move," she said, helping him sit down, "I need to finish closing up."

"Thanks," he muttered tiredly.

She just shook her head in exasperation and made her way back over to the counter to make something up for him. She could be a bitch sometimes, but she wasn't a heartless one.

"What's he doing here?" Kitty asked spying the billionaire over on the couch as she exited the kitchen. She'd also gotten the closing shift that day.

"He showed up a few minutes ago," Helen said, grabbing a fire-red coffee mug from under the counter, fixing the drink she was making. She finished it with a bit of cream and handed it to Kitty. "Go give this to him before he falls asleep."

**BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD**

Tony stared at the ceiling blankly as he sat there on the couch in the exact same spot he was in last time. His mind was a mess. He was too tired to think clearly, but too afraid to willingly pass out there on the couch.

He was beginning to realize that coming here was an _incredibly_ stupid idea.

"Dude, are you even _alive_?"

Tony turned his head to stare blearily at the college aged blonde standing there with mild concern on her face and a fire-red coffee mug in her hands. He vaguely recognized her from the other time he was here by the shocking pink streaks framing her face.

"Here," she said, holding out the coffee mug to him, "Compliments of the Boss Lady."

"Thanks," he muttered, taking the coffee mug from her.

"Careful. It's called a '*****Sucker Punch' for a reason," she said.

He took a sip of the coffee drink and sputtered as the intense espresso about hit him in the face. Sucker Punch indeed. He coughed a bit as his eyes watered. "What the hell is _in_ this?"

"Uh… like a _shit-ton_ of caffeine?" the blonde said with a roll of her eyes. "It's got enough in it to jumpstart a 747. I'm expressly forbidden from having them though," she pouted. "I _apparently_ tried to destroy a Wal-Mart the one time I managed to snitch one. I guess people really don't like it when you cause stampedes of giant bouncy balls through the aisles or snipe people with the ******Nerf guns from inside the clothes racks."

"People _also_ don't like it when you try and _start a fire_ in the camping section to 'make the display scene more believable'," the brunette behind the counter called out with a roll of her eyes. "Just ignore her, Mr. Stark. That's what the rest of us do."

"Screw you!" the blonde cried to the British woman with a huff.

Tony stared at the blonde hazily as she continued to blather on about random crap. He could tell that she was talking, but all that came out of her mouth was white noise.

His vision started going blurry and he started to panic. He didn't have time to react as the world went black and he went limp, succumbing to the darkness that seemed to always linger on the fringes of his consciousness these days.

**BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD**

"_Shit_!" Alex screeched in shock as Stark suddenly went limp against the couch, coffee mug falling out of his hand to shatter in a wet mess on the concrete floor. "Uh… Helen?" she cried with a tinge of panic. "I think the dude just _died_!" Alex cried, poking the man's shoulder.

Helen carelessly dropped the rag she was using to wipe down the tables and hurried over to find that sure enough, he'd passed out cold. She let out a string of expletives, cursing her rotten luck as she did a standard check for his vitals. His temperature was higher than she would have liked and he was breathing a bit erratically.

She should have just shoved him in a cab and been done with it.

"Did you _drug_ him?" Alex hissed.

"What? _No!_" Helen cried indignantly.

Not that it _hadn't_ crossed her mind when she made him that coffee drink.

She rubbed her hand over her face tiredly. "Go flip the wards," she said with a sigh. "It's past closing time anyway."

Alex did as asked and made her way to the outer door to slide the open sign over to 'closed', activating the outer layer of wards around the building. There was a faint shudder of magic as a muggle repelling charm activated and an illusion settled over the large windows to show a darkened interior.

"What should we do?" Alex muttered worriedly as she made her way back over. "Should we call an ambulance?"

"No," Helen said with a frown, remembering his outright _refusal_ to go to the hospital. "He's unconscious, not dying. Let's get him upstairs. I'd rather have him passed out on the couch in my living room rather than down here."

Helen called her wand from the holster disguised as her watch and vanished the mess on the floor before casting a simple levitation spell on the man. With Alex's help, she managed to guide him up the stairs and into the apartment, resting him gently on the couch in her living room. Bayer watched the event curiously from his dog bed having been brought up some hours ago.

"I feel like we just _kidnapped_ someone," Alex muttered, tossing the blanket on the back of the couch. "I hope you know that if anyone asks, I'm _totally_ blaming you. Seriously, we should have dropped him off at the closest muggle hospital and called it good."

"Go home, Kitty," Helen said. "I've got it from here."

"Okay, but I hope you know that this is _by far_ one of the _stupidest_ things you've done," Alex said as she made her way to the door. "Don't come crying to me if he has you arrested!"

"I'll see you later," Helen said absently as she started to remove the man's coat so he wouldn't end up roasting. She was glad to see that this time he was at least dressed for the February weather.

Alex rolled her eyes and left, closing the door behind her, leaving her alone with the unconscious billionaire now passed out on her couch.

"Damn my saving people thing," Helen muttered with a small sigh as she opened his coat. She paused when she noted a faint blue glow filtering through his t-shirt with the AC/DC logo on it. Curious, she briefly traced a finger over the faint glow, noting how the edges of the device were raised against his chest. She was tempted to lift his shirt and investigate, but decided against it and continued removing the coat from his person carefully. She draped it across the back of the couch and removed his shoes before grabbing the blanket off of the couch.

"You better _not_ steal it this time," she muttered as she opened the cover and draped it over him.

She paused and ghosted her fingers across his tired face. She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead before retreating to her bedroom.

She went about her nightly routine on auto-pilot, changing into a pair of fuzzy green pajama bottoms with cartoon pandas all over them and a black spaghetti-strap tank top with the Chevy logo on it.

She climbed into bed and gave one last glance towards the hallway before settling down to sleep. It felt like she scarcely touched her head to the pillow before a startled cry jerked her awake again.

**BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD**

He was trapped.

The voices taunted him as he struggled to free himself from the suffocating bonds.

He couldn't _breathe_.

"_Mr. Stark?"_ A familiar voice cut through the darkness. _"Mr. Stark, wake up!"_

He felt hands on his shoulders and he struggled harder to get away. The hands tugged at him pulling and jostling until suddenly…

…he was free.

He lunged and a sharp pain suddenly bloomed over his face as reality crashed around him, waking him from his nightmare. He tumbled off of whatever it was he was laying on to hit the floor with loud thud. He scrambled to his feet and barreled through the unfamiliar place, knocking things over until he found the nearest bathroom. He lunged at the toilet and promptly emptied what little was in his stomach.

He felt a presence kneel beside him as he took a shuddering breath, valiantly trying to keep a hold of himself.

He couldn't take this anymore.

He didn't want to suffer like this, no matter how much he thought he probably deserved it.

His hand reached for the arc reactor in the center of his bare chest, his shirt long missing. All he had to do was twist it out and he'd be gone in less than half an hour. It was _that_ easy.

Besides, who would _honestly_ miss him if he was gone?

A choked sob escaped his mouth when a hand much smaller than his own rest itself over his to gently pry his fingers off of the glowing, metal device powering his empty heart. He felt the last tendrils of control he had over himself slowly crumble away as he was enveloped in the smell of vanilla and jasmine tinted with coffee.

"_It's okay. I've got you now."_

The voice was soft like a melody on a breeze, kind and understanding with vague familiarity. His mind was a mess, too jumbled to put voice to face and at this point he didn't quite care who it was. All that mattered was someone was _there_.

He turned in the stranger's embrace and buried his face into the warmth of bare skin, letting himself fall apart completely, too god-damned _tired_ to hold it all in anymore.

**BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD**

Helen was at a loss as to what to do.

She'd woken up to find him tangled in the blanket, writhing in the clutches of what she could only assume was a terrible nightmare. She tried to wake him, untangling him from the blanket, but he lunged at her. She ended up slapping him across the face to wake him up only for him to barrel for the bathroom, nearly running her over.

Now she was sitting there on her bathroom floor, leaning back against the bathtub with a grown man she'd met only twice curled in her lap there in the darkness as he quietly shattered to pieces in her arms.

He clung to her weakly, trembling like a frightened child with his face buried in the juncture of her neck and shoulder. She could feel his hot breath on her skin mingling with the tears that fell steadily down his face one after another. One of her hands buried itself into his hair and she tangled her fingers in the sweat-soaked strands at the nape of his neck as he pressed his face deeper into her shoulder as if trying to hide from the world. She brought her other arm to wrap around his back and hold him against her. She rested her head atop his and held him tight, trying vainly to keep her own tears from joining his as her very _magic_ wept for his broken spirit.

Four days ago this man was nothing more to her than an illustrious figure on the television and in the papers.

And then Fate intervened…

Over the years, her 'saving people thing' evolved into a habit of collecting broken people, fixing them up and polishing them out to make them shine again. That was how she had ended up forming most of her team.

But _this_…

She loosened her hold on her magic and let it reach out to touch the very essence of him, and for a split second she _felt_ his pain. The drowning waves of hopelessness, anger, and fear were overwhelming, making her gasp and clutch him tighter as her magic recoiled quickly as if burned. From that one brief touch she saw and felt his soul, once a proud flame burning hot and _wild_, was now just a dying ember so beaten down it was as if the slightest breeze would extinguish it forever.

She buried her face in his dark hair and held him there on the bathroom floor, singing to him softly until the trembling ceased and his breathing calmed deep and even. His grip on his slackened as his body relaxed against her completely.

"No more nightmares tonight," she murmured softly into his hair. "I promise."

**~FIN~**

**BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD~BD**

**AN: Finished! So just in case you couldn't tell, this chapter was **_**incredibly**_** hard for me to write on so many levels, trying to accurately portray Tony in such a state of exhausted hopelessness. I don't know if I did it justice, but after the _third time_ of rewriting this chapter, I finally called it good. Helen is a bit bewildered at having this all dropped into her lap, seeing such a vulnerable side of a virtual stranger, much less one that she's been fretting over for the past few days. T****his was a turning point for the story and we'll see what happens when Tony wakes up in the next chapter!**

**Again, if anything seems confusing or if you have questions, feel free to leave a review or PM me!**

**Happy Reading!**

**J.S.**

* * *

*** **– So this is an _actual coffee drink_ that's made at a local coffee shop in the town where I live. It's basically pure, super-strong espresso topped with a little sugar and a splash of cream. My best friend dared me to try it once and I swear it nearly _killed_ _me_.

****** - My best friend and I actually did this once. We got kicked out of Wal-Mart for six months, but it was worth it! :)


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